It is possible that the time course of perceptual experience is not be determined by the time course of neural activity, but by an interpretive process that corrects for the inherent temporal ambiguities of sensory processing. We examined this possibility by manipulating a low-level stimulus attribute designed to influence sensory processing in a characteristic fashion. When successively presented opponent directions of motion were contrasted, the second interval of motion needed to be longer than the first to be perceived as being of the same duration. This asymmetry was reversed when the angular difference between the successive directions was reduced to 90 . This suggests that the inherent dynamics of sensory processing can perturb our sense of timing. Therefore, our results suggest that any interpretive analysis that is causally involved in the production of perceptual experience may be subject to the temporal limitations of the sensory processing on which it is based.